Page 32 of Nick
He leaped from his knees, the urgency of their situation propelling him forward.Sarah, too, was a flurry of movement, her long dark hair wild as she pushed herself upright.
“Quick, we can’t let them see us like this,” Sarah whispered.
“Mommy, I want to show you my art!”Javier’s voice grew louder, closer.
Nick could picture his son’s dimpled smile, the joy radiating from his little being, and it fueled his actions.
He snatched their shirts from the floor and tossed Sarah’s to her.Muscles flexed beneath his skin as he hastily buttoned up, movements swift and precise.
“Where are my boots?”Sarah whispered, her eyes wide.She was a vision of disarray, her dark hair tousled, her blouse askew.Nick watched for a breath too long, entranced by the sight of her trying to realign her world after the tempest he’d unleashed on her.
“Under the bed,” he said, voice low.He bent to retrieve them, one hand bracing against the mattress, aware of every curve and corner of Sarah’s body as she leaned over him.
Their fingers brushed as he handed her the boots, a jolt of electricity sparking between them.It was enough to remind him of the passion that had consumed them, the way her body arched, seeking, demanding, surrendering.
“Thanks,” she breathed out, slipping on her footwear with practiced haste.
“Anytime,” he said, his response automatic, though his mind replayed the map of her sighs and soft pleas.
The front door rattled.Nick’s gaze snapped to the window.With a last glance at Sarah, whose brown eyes held a storm of emotions he dared not decipher, he lunged for the bathroom.
The door clicked open just as he shut the bathroom behind him, the space suddenly claustrophobic.
His reflection in the mirror was a man caught between worlds—human and wolf, lust and love, past hurt and present desire.
Nick’s nostrils flared as he struggled to calm his racing pulse, to silence the call of the wild that urged him to claim Sarah, to mark her as his own before the pack, before the world.
But Javier’s voice, full of innocence and wonder, caught his attention.Nick shoved his feet into his boots without untying them.
“Nick?”Sarah’s voice echoed outside the door.
“Be right out,” he managed to say.
The heat of her touch still burned on his skin, each point of contact a searing brand of the love he couldn’t seem to extinguish—love that had once been the cornerstone of his existence before it turned into the ashes of betrayal.His wolf snarled within him, craving her.But Nick was no mere beast ruled by instinct.
“Dammit,” he muttered under his breath.
The scent of Sarah lingered, an intoxicating desert wildflower.It taunted him, promising ecstasy and agony in equal measure.
She cannot unravel me, he reminded himself.I can’t afford to lose myself in her.Not again.
Nick straightened his spine and turned the knob of the bathroom door.
He would wear a mask of indifference.
No matter how much it hurt.
Nick stepped into the cool interior of Sarah’s living room.His gaze settled on Sarah, her eyes meeting his briefly before darting away, the tension in her frame speaking volumes.
“Hey,” he said, his voice strained with the effort it took to sound casual.
Una offered him a small nod from her armchair.But it was the tiny figure beside Sarah that caught his full attention.
Javier stood there, a miniature mirror of both parents, his tousled dark blond hair falling over brown eyes shining with excitement.In his small hands, he clutched a piece of paper, creased from being held too tightly.
“Look, Nick!”Javier exclaimed, rushing forward.“I made this at the festival.”
The little boy’s words cut through the tense atmosphere, drawing a half smile from Nick despite himself.He knelt down to meet Javier’s height, gently taking the offered art.
